Water conservation has become increasingly important due to limited water resources amid rising populations and increased demand for water. Efforts to reduce water consumption have had limited success.
Limited water resources have had an adverse impact on the ability of homeowners to water their lawns and gardens. Furthermore, governments and municipalities have limited the use of irrigation and lawn watering in times of drought and limited water supply. This is problematic in times of drought as homeowners may not be allowed to water their lawns that may already be suffering from the drought conditions. Repair of lawns that have suffered from drought conditions is expensive. Furthermore, drought-stricken lawns are unsightly and may impact the land value of a homeowner. Additionally, water tables around the world continue to be depleted faster than they are being replenished such that water conservation will continue to be a growing social initiative.
Drought-stricken lawns need water through either irrigation or natural precipitation such as rainfall. However, rainfall is unpredictable as far as occurrence and amounts. For best results in lawn maintenance or tending a garden, routine and regular irrigation and watering are needed.
One manner of providing irrigation and watering may include using a storage tank or rain barrel that is designed to collect rainwater coming through a gutter assembly. One manner of collecting rainwater from a gutter assembly may include cutting through an existing downspout assembly and attaching a device such as a fitting with a hose to the downspout assembly. However, this device may not be aesthetically pleasing or functional. Other devices may not be easily installed upon a gutter assembly. These devices may also clog easily or may have a debris filter that must be cleaned to function properly.
Another difficulty presented by existing rainwater collection systems is that the storage tank must be placed under the existing downspout which makes the tank conspicuous and difficult to conceal.
Still another disadvantage of existing systems is that those systems rely on gravity for evacuation of the collected water. For this reason, the collection point in which water is collected within the gutter assembly of certain systems is often raised off of the ground to increase pressure, thus making it even more difficult to conceal.
Accordingly, there remains a need for a device that addresses the various disadvantages associated with previous devices.